Where do McGill PhD grads go after graduation?

Image depicts PhD graduates at convocation on the McGill campus.

The TRaCE McGill quantitative study successfully tracked over 88% of all 5,523 alumni who earned their PhD at McGill from 2008 to 2018 inclusive. The Executive Summary presents our key findings.

Executive Summary

Snapshots of our Findings

60% of McGill PhDs graduated in Medicine, Science, or Engineering.

Figure 1 of the TRaCE McGill Executive Summary shows the proportion of McGill doctoral graduates by faculty. 22% of graduates are in Medicine, 20% are in Science, 18% are in Engineering, 14% are in Arts, 7% are in Education ,7% are in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 5% are in Interfaculty Studies, 3% are in Music, 2% are in Management, 1% are in Law, and less than 1% are in Dentistry.
Figure 1 of the TRaCE McGill Executive Summary

Most graduates work in the higher education sector, followed by the for-profit sector, and the government sector.

Figure 2 of the TRaCE McGill Executive Summary shows the proportion of graduates in each sector of employment. 54% are in the Academic sector, 28% are in the For-profit sector, 8% are in government, 4% are in healthcare, 3% are self-employed, 3% are non-profit
Figure 2 of the TRaCE McGill Executive Summary

Among all the graduates who are employed (in any sector), 23% have tenure-track jobs.

Figure 3 of the Executive Summary shows the percentage per faculty of graduates working in and outside academia, with and without tenure track jobs.
Figure 3 of the TRaCE McGill Executive Summary


Access the Executive Summary and the full Quantitative Analysis report on our Reports page.

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